Hartford, Kansas



From Topeka’s WIBW.com of September 17, 2004

No Charges Filed



The Coffey County prosecutor says a rural Hartford man was justified in killing his wife's ex-husband after he burst into their home and attacked them with a knife. County Attorney Douglas Witteman says Delano Nixon will face no charges. Authorities say 62-year-old Theodore Schmidt went to the southeast Kansas home of Delano and Linda Nixon on July 24th after fatally stabbing his girlfriend, 35-year-old Lisa Ragsdale. Witteman says Ragsdale was trying to end her relationship with Schmidt. He says Schmidt killed her by cutting her throat with a paring knife. Schmidt then drove to the home of the Nixons, who married one year after her 1991 divorce. Delano Nixon grabbed a single-shot shotgun that he kept in his bedroom. When he encountered Schmidt at the door of the bedroom, Nixon was knocked aside and suffered a knife wound across the chest. He killed Schmidt after the intruder attacked Linda Nixon and slashed her throat.